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PUBLICATIONS

Ultrafast THz photoconductivity of photovoltaic polymer-fullerene blends: a comparative study correlated with photovoltaic device performance

Published

Author(s)

Edwin J. Heilweil, Jin Zuanming, Dominik Gehrig, Clare Dyer-Smith, Frederic Laquai, Mischa Bonn, Dmitry Turchinovich

Abstract

Ultrafast photo-induced carrier dynamics in prototypical low band-gap polymer:fullerene photovoltaic blend films PTB7:PC70BM and P3HT:PC70BM is investigated using ultrafast terahertz (THz) spectroscopy. The sub-picosecond (ps) and few-ps decays of THz-probed photoconductivities for both compounds are observed, attributed to the rapid formation of polaron pairs by exciton-exciton annihilation and subsequent polaron pair annihilation, respectively. The transient THz photoconductivity spectra of PTB7:PC70BM are well described by the Drude-Smith (DS) model, directly yielding the important charge transport parameters such as charge carrier density, momentum scattering time, and effective localization. By comparison with P3HT:PC70BM, we find that in PTB7:PC70BM the mobile charge carrier photoconductivity is significantly enhanced by a factor of 1.8 and prevails for longer times after charge formation, due to both improved mobile charge carrier yield and lower charge localization. In PTB7:PC70BM a strong dependency of electron momentum scattering time on electron density was found, well parameterized by empirical Caughey-Thomas model. The difference in ultrafast photoconductivities of both P3HT:PC70BM and PTB7:PC70BM is found to correlate very well with the performance of photovoltaic devices based on those materials.
Citation
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Volume
5
Pub Type
Journals

Keywords

Terahertz spectroscopy, charge transfer, semiconducting polymers, organic photovoltaics, photoconductivity
Organic electronics, Semiconductors and Alternative energy

Citation

Heilweil, E. , Zuanming, J. , Gehrig, D. , Dyer-Smith, C. , Laquai, F. , Bonn, M. and Turchinovich, D. (2014), Ultrafast THz photoconductivity of photovoltaic polymer-fullerene blends: a comparative study correlated with photovoltaic device performance, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (Accessed October 6, 2024)

Issues

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Created October 10, 2014, Updated February 19, 2017